Controversial finalists named for Wheels Car of the Year award

Four cars from companies involved in the emissions scandal, Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda, have made the list of 25 finalists competing to be named Wheels Car of the Year for 2016.

The magazine has included Volkswagen's Passat, Audi's Q7 and TT, and Skoda's Fabia among the contenders for Australia's most prestigious motoring award.

But the decision to judge the cars on their merits, without immediate reference to the allegations over cheating of emissions standards, was not without considerable debate, Wheels editor Glenn Butler says.

"Never before have judges known that the cars gathered for Car of the Year testing included potential cheats," Mr Butler wrote in the magazine's latest editorial which hits the streets on Thursday.

"The arguments around the table fell into two main camps.

"The first advocated for immediate disqualification.

"The second took a more pragmatic view: innocent until proven guilty."